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For those who raised an outdoor cat

When did you start letting your cat out? Was is still a kitten, maybe an older kitten? I'm scared of other cats & the hawk in our neighborhood. BUT, DH is allergic so we agreed that we'd let him go outside when he is ready to be an outdoor cat. Of course, he will be both an indoor & an outdoor cat really...

I have three females that go out during the day and come in at night, but I have a lot of land they can roam around in, if they run into any problems with other animals, they take refuge in my car port and I let them in. I started taking them out once they passed the kitten stage.

maybe you would feel better if you closed in your porch with like screen or something so it can be outdoors, and when you go out on the porch you can let it off to run around the yard so you can keep an eye on it. my family does that.. my parents. my aunts. lol it makes it where the cats arent indoors but we dont have to worry about the other animals

he is fixed, i just worry about larger cats that are around my house all the time & the hawk that i think lives in my back yard. I have a GREAT neighborhood for cats though. I live on a dead end road in the woods. Right accross the street is a wild life sanctuary, no one is aloud to mess with the forest over there. I'm just curious what kind of dangers are posed to a kitten. He really wants out now, but he still seems so small. He is about 4 months.

We already do that actually Ross. But, he just climbs the screen & it drives my DH nuts since he just put up new screens this spring. I'm think I'm going to wait until he is large enough so that hawk would have a hard time carrying him off he it tries. Shouldn't be too much loneger, he is getting big real quick! My old neighbor's kitten was taken by a hawk, it was so sad!

Well, when ever you have a cat outdoors there is always chance that it will get hit by a car or eaten by something. I know that where I live, the vets only recommend having an indoor cat because of cyotes (sp?) and fischer cats. Actually, my cat escaped one day and I am pretty sure a fischer cat got him... we live near woods too.

We live on a dead end road, there is only one other house on our street, there is NO TRAFFIC at all on our street. Also, all the cats in our neighborhood belong to someone. They all have tags. I've had vets tell me that it is best to keep them inside for safety, but i have also a vet now that tells me that outdoor cats are happier. The vet i have now (did not like my first one) says it's fine to have an outdoor cat. All her cats are outdoor & she explained the risks to me. I'm aware. I live in the city of Atlanta, we don't have any cyote's here. Just raccoons, opossums, skunks & other cats. I have only ever had outdoor cats, i could never keep one inside unless i lived in an apartment or something. I prefer cats be able to go out & explore